Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated

Lean Thinking is the second of the lean books from Womack and Jones. First was "the machine that changed the world", which changed my way of thinking. Lean Thinking picks up where "the machine" left and tries to abstract the learning from "the machine" into 5 values of lean. The 5 values are "Value, Value Stream, Pull, Flow and Perfection". By abstracting these values, Womack and Jones enable the lean manufactuing ideas to be used in different industries, which is exactly what happened. That makes this book a landmark book that maybe changed the world even more than their first book. The book itself is a nice and very very easy read. The authors get to the point, their explanation is clear and their stories made me enjoy the book very much. All in all, an excellent book and a absolute must read for anyone interested in lean, in whatever industry.

Lean Thinking, Revised and Updated provides a clear and practical framework for eliminating waste and improving efficiency in any organization. Womack and Jones break down complex concepts into actionable strategies, backed by real-world examples. A must-read for managers, business owners, and anyone focused on process improvement and operational excellence.

A most readable book on an important subject of productivity. The comment on outsourcing is insightful and the emphasis on human element is so crucial. Productivity is not all about bigger and better machines but about management and employee been willing to take risks to think out of a box. Mr. Womack has made a significant contribution to the on-going dicussion of productivity in a globalized world.

This book is a must read for anyone getting into Lean process improvement. This provides the guidebook into how many manufacturing companies across the world move into a lean production environment. As you get a deeper understanding of lean this book still provides continual surprises as you can begin to see what tools they are using and when to help them with the transition. I greatly suggest this as a book to use in a Lean book club for either a new training process or as part of a TQM initiative. As an aside from that, it's also a great industrial history book too. It highlights challenges across different industries and how these small and large companies managed a turn around using Lean principles. I learned a lot about companies I've always respected. As this was written during the beginning of the Lean revolution, there's minimal information related to the service industry.

When given the opportunity to attend a seminar by Dr. Sam Sherwood of Greeneville, SC, I was prescribed to read this book. It has stood the test of time in that after 25 years, its principles are creating a revolution in the industry of whoever will read and abide by its principles. It was an easy read in its style, but deceptively inclusive in its importance. If you don't outline, annotate and follow its prescription, you won't "get well". Through it, my hard-wrought instructor has changed the view of many companies which he has served, including Boeing. Read it and succeed. That's the plain short and simple of it. Christopher A. Morgan, Professional Calligrapher & Genealogist and CEO of "Christopher The Calligrapher", Charlotte, North Carolina [...]

Mainly, even the most lean enterprises are controlled by investment, which has basically made a farce of manufacturing. Most investors only see the value in off shoring manufacturing, almost in a punitive sense. Nobody care about new products, since nobody has any money. Only the energy sector is important in the US anymore. Alternative or fossil fuel. The one who controls the energy is the one who literally has the power. The next innovation will be self-power for companies and individuals. Only then will manufactured goods once again mean anything, and these goods will be simple, creative, and hopefully high-quality.

Update: from obsolete 1st review (below) After working at two Japanese companies that were deep into the TPS (Toyota Production System) What America calls Lean, I’ve come to a different conclusion: There are two different Lean programs. I’ve worked in 7 Lean environments; 5 American and my last 2 were Japanese. The Japanese Lean is nothing like American Lean and Lean-Six Sigma. I was awestruck at the difference and how badly American companies are butchering its application. America takes shortcuts, misunderstanding of what the TPS system imparts and a tremendous misapplication of the tools and processes. I will stop here as I am moving to another chapter in my life but will be presenting more in the future. I will say this book misses the Mark quite a bit as you can’t gain a concept of “How Lean actually work and can be deployed correctly”. That being said, the book introduces terms, concepts, ideas and definitions like all others but Lean is more, as the Japanese taught, showed, practice, demonstrated, and I B participated in. I’m changing my rating to 3-star because you start but don’t complete. Lean rollout. Obsolete review :Everyone runs with this notion of a tool kit and boom they will be efficient. Really! Here is the kit; 5S (Elaborate cleaning process to shadow box everything), JIT (drive inventory to unsustainable operational levels), Kan-ban (manual paper or bins exchange of inventory to control inventory), and the infamous Kaizen teams (grouping of non-expert experience people waisting time with endless meetings), Visual line balancing and controls (I want begin to tell how much of a cluster-F you will be with that tool). Many companies have modified Lean to make it work since it does not work. If Lean and TPS is so great then why has Toyota abandon Lean for, once again, the American manufacturing process, precisely Ford motors process again? It was Toyota that sought Ford motor's process in the first place.

Got exactly what I needed and did not have to make a special trip and spend time in a bookstore.

Preferred this second book. Quality of book was excellent

O livro é completo, objetivo e transmite a informação de forma efetiva. É um recurso que todos que atuam com Lean deveriam ter.

Book as described and excellent condition

Il prodotto è arrivato in tempi brevi dagli USA, il prezzo è molto competitivo rispetto allo stesso prodotto nuovo, le condizioni sono quelle descritte dal venditore, per cui mi ritengo soddisfatto dell'ordine e del servizio offerto.

A great book! Very well written and explains the principles of lean in an easy to understand way.